Saturday, July 26, 2008

To Eat or To Wear?

Let's take the 'average' person who has an 'average' salary which is approximately 35,000CDN a year, minus the tax of lets say 20%, you're getting a net worth of about 28,000 annually. Let's pretend that this person does not need to pay for a car or car insurance. They take public transit which costs roughly about 120/month, thus 1,440/year. Now to rent. The average rent for a 1 bedroom apartment in a 'close to subway station' location will cost roughly about 1,450/month, thus 17,400/year. The phone and internet bill will come to about 120/mo, another 1,440/yr. The water, gas, electricity bill an additional 1,440/yr (but, since you live in an apt, these are likely to be included in the rent). All these expenses total to a whopping 20,280/year. And, the average person has approximately 7,720/yr, giving them 643.33/mo for any other expense.

Are my numbers REALLY unreasonable, that the average person is only left with a mere 600 dollars per month to spend on food other daily needs?!

Lets say the daily needs such as toothpaste, toilet paper, and other household items (dish detergent, a new mop) etc. etc. you spend on average 50/mo. Now we are left with a 593.33 for groceries and a new top.

Now the question is: if you were the average person, would you rather spend a bit more money on better quality food, or would you spend the money on better quality clothing?
For an average female, of 'no name brand' quality food, the monthly food cost would probably be about $250. To 'supe' it up to better higher quality food, $400 a month.

Or, we can keep the cheaper quality food and use that $200 dollars to buy that pair of really nice Stuart Weitzman shoes you saw the other day.

Thoughts?

p.s. yes, i know there could be a zillion other things you could use that extra money to buy. But, let's just say you had to choose between food and clothes, which would you choose?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

interesting post!!!

hahaa i'd have to say I'd rather spend it on clothes... because

1) I am sure I can make good food with inexpensive ingredients
2) I don't eat much anyway
3) It's important how we present ourselves in the public. Sure, not all expensive clothes are nice clothes. but we all need certain pieces of nice clothes in our closet. It's better to collect them one by one (especially when they're on sale) than to buy everything once when you need it and be broke for the month :)
4) If you have no clothes, you can't get out of the house to buy food lol...jkjk :)